More Discussions for this daf
1. Kinara tree 2. A valid sale with duress
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BAVA BASRA 48

michael schiffer asked:

what is,where is this tree located,is it the special

yam kineret tree,where else does it mention this tree in shas

michael schiffer, monsey new york

The Kollel replies:

The tree of our Gemara seems to have been in Bavel. It may have been called Kinara because "its fruits were as sweet as strains of music from a harp", as the Gemara (Megilah 6a) says with regard to the area known as "Kineret" (and "Ginosar") which produced especially sweet fruits. According to another translation of the above Gemara in Megilah, the fruit of Kineret/Ginosar is called by that name because it is as tasty as the fruit of the Kineras tree (Aruch Kinar I) implying that the Kineras was the most commonly cited example of a sweet-fruit bearing tree. In fact, according to the Yerushalmi in Megilah 1:1, Kinara trees are grown in areas called Beis Yerach and Tzinabra, near the Kineret lake. (It is not clear if that Yerushalmi is referring to the "true" Kinaras, or to the Ginosar trees that were "as sweet as the Kinara.")

The Gemara in Berachos 40b (according to the Girsa of the Aruch, Erech Kinar I) says that the fruit of the Kinara was also called "Rimin" (pl.), and that these fruit were so cheap that they were not normally harvested and marketed but left to grow Hefker (in Eretz Yisrael).

Perhaps the Kinara was some type of date palm that produced especially sweet dates. (Sweet date palms were common in the Jordan valley area of Eretz Yisrael and even more so in Bavel, see Pesachim 87b.) In Aruch ha'Shalem, Chanoch Kahut suggests that the Kinara was the sweet fruit of the "Greek lotus" tree described often by Greek botanists. The lotus he refers to is the jujube or "Chinese date" (Greek: zizyphon -- not the clove tree described by Musaf he'Aruch Erech "Lotus"). A near-twin of this tree is the Shizef tree, see Kil'ayim 1:4 and Background to the Daf Pesachim 111:23b. (He cites others that suggest artichoke, but that does not fit well with the sources, such as our Gemara.)

Maybe Tabi chose that tree to hang his friend in because of its renown for hosting demons under its branches (Pesachim 111b, according to the Girsa of the Aruch ibid.) which would give his friend a scare. (He wasn't hanging in a noose, after all, just attached by rope to the tree.)

According to the second explanation of the Rashbam, it would seem that Kinara refers to a harp (that Tabi wanted to purchase and Papi was not interested in selling), and if so this Gemara is no source for there being a tree of that name. In the other places in Shas where the Aruch has the Girsa "Kinara", our Girsa is "Kinda" (Pesachim 111b, Berachos 40b), so we do not necessarily have a source for there being any tree by the name of Kinara (other than in the Kineret area).

M. Kornfeld